In Betweens
by NixRising
Summary: Follow up to my first story, Beginnings, finds Commander Shepard and Thane strengthening the bonds of their relationship with even more humor along the way.


Shepard drifted between sleep and waking as she lay in bed late into the morning on one of her rare days off. She was feeling particularly content and peaceful another rare thing for her and due in a large part to the Drell who lay under her also drowsing.

"Siha, you're doing it again," Thane broke the silence with a gentle tone.

"Hmmm, uh hmm," Shepard responded absently, then questioned "doing what again?"

"You're petting me," Thane said with a smile, referring to the hand she was repeatedly running up and down his incredibly smooth, warm chest. "Normally I wouldn't mind, of course, it's just that you seem so relaxed and I would hate to disturb that but your touch is having," here he paused, then continued "a decidedly un-relaxing effect on me."

Anya opened her eyes and looked down his chest to his rapidly growing erection and with a smile of her own asked "un-relaxing, is that even a word," as she moved her hand lower to caress him. Propping herself up on her free hand she looked down at him, once again struck by how beautiful he was and how lucky she felt to have him here with her. "If you didn't feel so damn good to touch, I wouldn't keep doing it, so really it's your fault," she finished in a throaty voice. Anya lowered her mouth to his and gently touched his lips as she continued to stroke him, thrilling at the low growl he gave. In the mood to test how well her immunity to his hallucinogenic effect on her was progressing, Anya gently pushed her tongue in his mouth and explored until she started to feel dizzy, while Thane moved his hands up and down her back. When it started to feel like she might have exposed herself too much, Anya moved her lips down and began to explore his chest, making slow progress further down until her lips met the hand that was still working his cock.

"Siha," Thane said with a warning growl, even as he pushed her long hair out of the way so that he could see the path her lips were taking, and watch the first moment they touched his tip and wrapped around it, "you know we did not prepare for this, the reaction will be too strong," he barely managed to finish the sentence, overcome by the sensations her mouth was causing.

"Shhh," she breathed around him, "it will be ok, I promise." Thane's next protest was cut off as she swirled her tongue around the tip before plunging her mouth down to meet the hand that was still working the base of his erection. Anya loved being able to make Thane lose control this completely, it made her almost as excited as having his hands on her and she continued enthusiastically knowing that she would suffer the effects later, but as she looked up at his pleasure infused face and dazed eyes she knew it was worth it.

She didn't know how long her terminal was beeping before EDI's voice finally got through to them, but she paused her movements as she listened to EDI state, rather loudly, "Mr. Krios you have an urgent message coming in," and Thane reply with an impatient "it can wait EDI."

"I am sorry but it is from the source that you have flagged as high priority, I can record it and save it for later if you," EDI continued but Thane interrupted with a sigh "no, I will answer." Looking up in surprise, Thane said "Siha, you must believe that I would not stop this if it were not very important," even as he slowly untangled himself from her and started to rise from the bed. Anya rolled to her back and watched him get dressed, smiling a bit as he struggled to fasten his pants over his sizable erection. With a rueful grin he finished dressing and came to place a quick kiss on her lips before he hurried out of her cabin. Anya wasn't sure how long she lay there allowing the dizziness to pass and secretly hoping Thane would come back so she could finish what she started before she finally gave up on both and rose to start her own day.

Shepard didn't see Thane for the rest of the day but she barely noticed as she moved from one minor catastrophe to another, culminating in a messy encounter with Mordin who had run into the crew mess carrying a large container of some gooey substance which he preceded to dump all over her, the people around her, and the entire dining area floor when he crashed into the counter as he was excitedly discussing his progress on dispersal mediums and countermeasures. It wouldn't have been so bad if Garrus hadn't heard Mess Sergeant Gardner yelling as if the ship was on fire and come running out to see what the trouble was. As he hit the slime he did a fairly graceful pirouette followed by a less graceful nose dive to the floor taking several crew members with him. While she knew it was wrong, Shepard couldn't stop laughing as she watched the people on the ground struggling to get up but only managing to pull each other back down with each attempt. Her laughter died abruptly when Garrus reached for her and purposefully pulled her down into the fray. By the time they were all upright and Mordin had been safely escorted out of the Mess Sergeant's line of sight Shepard was covered head to toe in goo and while she felt slightly guilty about it she chose to slide her way to the elevator instead of helping straighten the area up, one of the few times she used her status as the Commander to her benefit. Garrus had stomped off in anger as soon as he'd made it to his feet stopping everyone's laughter with a mean glare. Of course the silence only lasted until he slipped and had to do a little dance to stay on his feet as he made his way to the showers which only caused him to glare more.

Shepard had made it back to her quarters without falling, although there were a couple of close calls, took a shower and was drying off when Thane came in looking tired and pensive. Approaching him with a smile Anya gave him a hug which he returned fiercely, squeezing her hard enough to take her breath away. As he loosened his grip with an apologetic smile, she asked "is everything ok?"

"Yes Siha, things are fine, I am feeling tired and I missed you today, that is all," he replied. Knowing that something else was going on but also knowing that Thane would tell her when he was ready Anya simply nodded and led him to bed. As they lay down he gathered her in his arms and pulled her close, resting her head on his chest as he stroked her hair. They did not speak again and Anya slowly drifted to sleep to the sound of his breathing.

She awoke alone, which was rare these days as Thane always said that waking up with her was the best part of his day. Pushing down her disappointment she stretched and rolled over, "Dammit, EDI didn't I tell you to give me a reminder to feed the fish," Anya demanded as she looked in dismay at her tank that was once again full of dead fish.

"I did give you a reminder Commander, in fact I gave you four reminders in the last two days, it is not my fault that you chose to ignore them," EDI replied with a bit too much attitude in Anya's opinion. She responded with a brilliant "humpf, well next time give me five reminders," and with what sounded suspiciously like laughter in her AI voice EDI replied, "yes Commander, signing off."

Deciding she was just grumpy because Thane wasn't there and then deciding that she was annoyed because she was grumpy that Thane wasn't there, Anya got up, said a quick apology to the upside down fish, got dressed and headed out for some breakfast. As she stepped into the elevator she had second thoughts about breakfast determining that she should maybe avoid the mess area for the day and headed to the CIC instead. After getting any updates from Kelly, enduring a few cracks from Joker about how baby smooth her skin and hair looked, and checking on Mordin who had also, wisely, decided to avoid the whole third level for the day, Shepard found herself thinking of Thane and wondering if everything was ok. Reflecting on it she realized that they hadn't spent more than a few hours apart since they finally admitted to their feelings and officially began a relationship. Even though Thane was clearly uncomfortable with some of the teasing and knowing looks from the crew it hadn't stop him from spending every evening in her cabin or from risking getting caught in the elevator, cargo holds, and life support a time or two. She'd even gotten over her fears of watching him get hurt during a mission fairly quickly, aided by the fact that he seemed so distressed at the thought of her going on a mission without him, that he'd been on every mission they'd had since their first trip together. As she headed to Life Support to see if Thane was there a smile played across her lips as she recalled Mordin's mission to save his former assistant and how it had brought Thane and her together. When she entered Life Support and discovered that Thane wasn't there, Anya briefly considered asking EDI where he was but stopped herself not wanting to become one of those women who couldn't make it through the day without seeing her man, never mind that she was feeling that way. Working hard to convince herself that she had no problem giving Thane some privacy if he needed it, Anya headed out and nearly bumped into Garrus who was passing by on his way to the elevator, she toyed with the idea of complimenting him on the silkiness of his crest but decided not to push it when his response to her hello was a curt and barely audible "Commander." Deciding to address one relationship while she could, Shepard said "you're not still angry about yesterday, are you Garrus?"

"Angry? Do you have any idea how much of that stuff got under my plates, you have no idea how uncomfortable that is, not to mention how many hours it took to wipe that slime off my armor," he trailed off as he noticed Shepard was trying hard not to laugh. "Fine, I can see that my discomfort means nothing to you, so,"

"No don't leave," Anya managed as she grabbed his arm to stop his progress, "I'm sorry it's just I started imagining you walking around making squishing sounds with every step because you couldn't get the goo out from under your plates and I" Garrus halted her by holding his hand up and pointing at her, "that is not funny" but she noticed that he had a smile, at least the Turian version of one, starting as he said it and she gave into her laughter, Garrus joining her a few seconds later. After that they decided to go practice sparring for their afternoon training and if she let him win a few more bouts than usual, she'd never tell.

They had dinner in the mess hall and while they may have been over yesterday's fiasco it was clear that Mess Sergeant Gardner was not, he served them muttering about slime and poor seasoning the whole time, they both wisely held their smiles until the food was safely on their plates. The evening ended well with a few drinks and a few old stories for the new crew, Garrus could make almost any experience seem funny, but the whole time Shepard was very aware of the fact that she still had not seen Thane today.

As she made her way back to her cabin she was surprised to realize how much she had come to rely on Thane's calming presence, on how much she had enjoyed his subtle nods and winks from across a room, or how much she savored the flush of excitement she got every time he approached her during the day just to say hi and touch her in some way before going about his business.

Entering her cabin she resolved to find out what was going on with Thane so they could get back to normal but was disappointed when she saw he wasn't there, giving in to the urge she had been fighting all day, Anya asked, "EDI has Thane been by here today or left me any messages?"

"No Commander he has not, in fact he has somehow shielded himself from me and I am not sure where he is," frowning at EDI's response, she responded with thanks, got ready for bed and lay down alone for the first time in weeks, although sleep was a long time coming.

Only managing to get a few hours of restless sleep, Anya was up far too early in the morning and on a mission to locate Thane and make him talk. She headed to Life Support first not really expecting him to be there and when he was it threw her off as she had been building up a fine temper over having to search the ship for him. Seeing him sitting in his usual chair looking so tense and still, staring intently at nothing her ire faded and she spoke his name softly so as not to startle him "Thane, is everything all right?"

"Siha, yes, no, not really," was his reply which didn't really clear anything up but he turned as he said it and held his hand out for her so she stepped forward to grasp his offered hand then gave a little squeak as he forcefully pulled her into him wrapping his arms around her middle pressing his face into her body.

"Thane please tell me what's wrong," Anya pleaded as she ran one of her hands gently down his head.

"It is difficult, I am not used to having someone to share my burdens with and this is something I have not mentioned to you in the past, although now I am ashamed that I have not when we have shared so much," he began then stopped as if unsure how to continue.

"Thane you know I understand about not being comfortable sharing burdens, there is no pressure but I'm here for you, as you have been for me after all those times that I've had to make hard decisions or when I've struggled to face demons from my own past. Let me help you now, I want to help you," Anya finished as she moved his head up so he could look into her eyes and see how she felt.

He loosened his grip and shifted her so that she was sitting on his lap and began to talk, keeping his face averted even as he gave her a tight squeeze. "You remember the high priority call I received the other day," Anya merely nodded, as he continued "it was an old contact who used to provide me with intel on targets and on those who hired me, he is very hard to get a hold of and I had been trying to find him for months."

"I assume you had him looking for someone in particular," Anya guessed, wondering if the problem was that the person had been located or if it was that the person could not be found.

Thane took a deep breath turned his eyes to her and said quietly, "he has been looking for my son, Kolyat."

She took a moment then said, "Your son, that's unexpected," and noticed that some of the tension seemed to go out of Thane's shoulders as that was her only response, "Thane I guess I'm a little surprised that you haven't mentioned him before but I know you were married and it's not unheard of for married couples to produce offspring," she said with a smile to soften the sarcasm in her statement.

Thane returned her smile with a small, sad one of his own before replying "I know I should've told you that I was looking for him sooner but I held back because I did not want you to think less of me," Anya interrupted with "it's too late to worry about things like that Thane, I'm completely hooked, in fact I'm not sure what you would have to do to get me to turn away at this point so you may as well spill it," she asserted with a grin and one raised eyebrow. This time when he smiled it reached his eyes as he continued, "it is good to know that I have a free pass to do my worse around you Siha," he paused, then more seriously "my son was young when Irikah was killed, too young to see the form my grief took, in my remorse and anger vengeance was all I could see. Without a word I left Kolyat with family and tracked down my wife's killers," he paused, then went on, "Siha, I was trained to kill quickly, cleanly but that is not what I did to those responsible, they suffered long before they died and their suffering changed me so that when the time came for me to return to my home, I could not, I could not face the memories and I could not face Kolyat." His sad smile returned as he mused, "of course I could not actually escape the memories but it did not stop me from trying. I have not spoken to Kolyat since that time and I lost track of him for many years but after I joined with your cause and came to understand how unlikely we are to survive this war," here Thane gave her another tight squeeze, "I realized that my actions and continued cowardice towards my son were unacceptable and that I needed to do what I could to try and make amends before it is too late. So I sent a request for information to my old contact. It took some time but he has been located on the Citadel," Thane stopped, his face tightening and when he seemed unable to continue, Anya asked, "Isn't it good to know where he is?"

Thane sighed and slowly stood up, placing Anya on her feet as he paced to his weapons display, "I wish it were that simple but I fear that Kolyat is planning on following in my footsteps, a path I never wanted for him, one I had thought he would avoid if I were not around. Siha, I know that we are always busy and in the midst of something far greater than ourselves but I must ask a favor," before Anya could say anything, Thane finished in a rush "I need to go to the Citadel and stop Kolyat from making a terrible mistake and I need to do it now while I still can, I will understand if you cannot come with me but I must ask that I be released from my pledge to help you just for a short time, I" Anya who had moved over to stand next to Thane put her hand on his arm and stopped him with a look of tenderness he had never seen from her before, "of course, I will help you Thane, you don't need to ask, you never need to ask, you are the one that I love beyond all others, you must know by now that I will do anything I can to aid you, especially if it is something that brings you some peace." Thane simply stared at her for a few moments before nodding and turning back to his weapons.

Shepard had the course to the Citadel plotted within minutes of leaving Life Support and had already had EDI announce to the crew that they were receiving an unexpected port call with time off for all non essential personnel, although judging by the number of comments to Shepard about their course it seemed that everyone was more excited about the fact that they weren't going to Omega yet again than they were by the extra time off. For her part as she made preparations to hit the surface and begin the search for Kolyat she could not stop thinking about the fact that she had told Thane she loved him, neither one of them had said it before and she hadn't meant to then but it just slipped out. Judging by his response it had been the wrong time and she felt almost selfish for doing it, she only hoped he didn't think she had meant to put him on the spot with her declaration at a time when he should only be focused on saving his son. She vowed to herself to apologize to him for her timing as soon as she had a chance.

They made it to the Citadel in record time and it had only taken a few minutes with Commander Bailey to get the name of a contact who might be able to provide information on Kolyat. It had been a bit of a surprise when Anya discovered that Thane knew their contact, Mouse. It was also a surprise that Thane had also helped Mouse when he was a child fending for himself in the ducts and back alleys of the Citadel wards but it turned out their shared history paid off, they got a name from Mouse without threats or force. With Commander Bailey's help they were able to get what they needed from Kelham, the man who hired Kolyat. As Mouse had warned, that one did take a bit of force but Shepard never minded beating up the bad guys so it was no problem for her and Thane's quietly uttered comment about "her sexy bad cop act" had Anya wanting to return to the interrogation room and hit Kelham a few more times.

Unfortunately they learned that Kolyat's target was already in the area and that Kolyat was expected to fulfill his end of the contract soon. The surprisingly helpful Commander Bailey had filled them in on the kind of person, or rather Turian, the target was and suggested they head to the 800 blocks of the Zakera Ward to locate him. As Bailey's subordinate took them further into the Citadel they formulated a plan which involved Shepard discreetly trailing the target, a dirty politician called Joram Talid and his Krogan bodyguard while Thane tried to locate and stop Kolyat before any shots were taken. They were dropped off and as Shepard moved towards the access for the overhead maintenance walkways she would use to trail Talid, she turned for one more look at Thane who was praying to Amonkira, the Drell's Lord of Hunters when he just disappeared in the crowd, as if he had never been there. Shepard looked around but saw no sign of him or his passing, with a delicate snort she turned back towards the access door, speaking into her transmitter as she did so "forget the bad cop routine, your disappearing act, now that is hot." A small chuckle was all she got back in response.

Turns out that following Talid and his Krogan goon was much easier than locating Kolyat and Talid made it all the way to his apartment entrance before either she or Thane spotted Kolyat, by then it was too late. Shepard ran to intercept him but he was already in front of Talid and the Krogan so she did the only thing she could think of, she yelled his name, "Kolyat!" Her yelled distracted Kolyat just long enough for the Krogan to push his employer out of the way but it didn't stop Kolyat from taking the shot and the Krogan went down with a bullet to the gut. Shepard and Thane ran after Talid and Kolyat and found them in the apartment, Talid on his knees with Kolyat standing behind him pointing a gun to the Turian's head. With a look of disbelief on his face, Kolyat looked up and rasped "this is a joke right? Now, now you show up."

Just as Thane was about to reply Commander Bailey and his people rushed in, ordering Kolyat to drop his weapon but he refused and demanded safe passage out of the area using Talid as a hostage. Getting Kolyat to drop his weapon also took a bit of force, which Shepard carried out with a grimace of apology to Thane as she completed a quick jab to Kolyat's face. Showing an even more surprising amount of compassion Bailey then offered to let the two Drell use an interrogation room to talk and they all headed to the C-Sec office. Shepard waited in the reception area with Bailey who agreed to allow Kolyat to complete some community service in lieu of jail time since no one was killed and this was his first offense. While she was talking with Commander Bailey she couldn't keep her mind off Thane and what might be going on in the room. However, it wasn't all that long before Thane came out and with respectful thanks to Bailey they headed back to the Normandy where Shepard was instantly waylaid with issues that required her attention, Thane gave her hand a quick squeeze and headed to the elevator, talking to no one as he stepped in and waited for the door to close.

It was several hours before Shepard made it to her quarters and she was disappointed to find that they were empty when she arrived. Unsure if she should try to find Thane or if he needed more time alone Anya decided to take a shower and get comfortable before she asked EDI to contact Thane for her. As she was finishing her shower she heard the door to her quarters swoosh open and smiled, glad that Thane had come up on his own. She stepped out of the bathroom in her towel and found him staring pensively at the empty fish tank, in a teasing voice she asked "you realize there are no fish in there, don't you?"

"Hmm, I knew something was missing but I couldn't quite put my finger on what," Thane replied and she was glad to hear him make a joke, she hoped it meant that things had gone as well as could be expected with Kolyat earlier today. Anya took his hand in her own and led him to the couch, urging him to sit while she got them each a drink and put on her robe. Once she was settled next to him, Thane turned to her and took her hand as he gazed at her intently, she would almost say as if he was trying to memorize her features but with his eidetic memory that had happened weeks ago, like it or not. After several long moments Thane broke his silence with "Siha, I will never be able to properly express how I feel about what you did for me this morning, it means more to me than you can imagine and I will be forever grateful to you for," with a bit of impatience Anya interrupted him, "Thane I have already told you that I am glad I can be there for you, I do not need eternal gratitude, helping you reconnect with your son is enough for me." Thane shook his head no, "you misunderstand me Siha, although I will always be thankful you were there today, I was not referring to Kolyat," he paused and raised one hand to gently smooth her hair back from her face while the other hand cupped her chin, his thumb running lightly across her lips. Trying to ignore the shivers his touch sent through her Anya waited for him to continue with confusion clear on her face, "I will forever have the memory of you telling me that you love me at a time when I did not think anyone should, I will be eternally grateful that you did not falter when I did not respond, and I will always wonder what I have done to deserve the love of such a beautiful, strong, resilient, and devoted companion," he finished his thought with a gentle brush of his lips across hers.

Anya took a moment to catch her breath before she replied "and to think I was planning on apologizing for springing that on you this morning at such an inappropriate time," as she ran her hands up his arms and moved herself closer to him, basking in the heat from his body and from the obvious emotion in his expressive eyes.

"Never, you never have to apologize for saying you love me, Anya, in fact it is I who should apologize for not saying it sooner," Thane placed a finger to her lips to stop her comment, he knew what she was going to say, "I am saying it now, Siha, patience," he injected with mock severity, then continued in a softer tone "I do love you more than I thought to ever love another, so much so that at times it takes my breath away," he kissed her again, more fiercely, then pulled back just enough to look into her eyes and Anya felt as though she could sit there forever, lost in the depths of his beautiful eyes. Thane leaned in while maintaining eye contact and began to kiss her gently then more insistently, as his kisses deepened and became more aggressive, Anya's thoughts were quickly being replaced with a building, driving need to feel Thane's body against hers, just before she lost all ability for coherent thought, she breathlessly asked "Thane does your perfect memory ever falter?" It took several heartbeats for her question to penetrate the fog of need clouding his mind before Thane could form any kind of response, "falter? How do you mean," he asked, his confusion clear. "I mean do you ever just remember bits and pieces of an event, you know like you remember the outcome of something but all the things that led up to it are kind of fuzzy or is it always perfect recall of every detail?" Anya clarified. "It is perfect recall of every detail. Why do you ask this now Siha?" to emphasize how inappropriate he thought the timing for this question was Thane pressed his rock hard erection into her roughly as he laid her back on the couch. Many kisses and soft groans later, Anya was finally able to reply "it's just that, ohhh," Thane dipped his head to her now uncovered nipple, "it's just that when we look back on this day I want to make sure that you'll always remember who said it first," she finished on a gasp that ended in a giggle when Thane grabbed the throw pillow from behind her and placed it over her head as he continued his journey down her body.


End file.
